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Have had the 4x4 (DSC) light illuminated on the dash (No other lights). Tried a few suggestions from the forums to clear it but to no avail. Also there are no grinding noises. Went into a dealer in Atlanta today and they said there was a fault with the transfer case actuator motor and possibly the transfer case itself. They wanted over $1500 to change out the actuator and if that didn't fix it, over $3100 for the transfer case. The car is a 2005 and has 61K. It is out of warranty.

Anyone ever DIY replace the transfer case actuator? The part is just over $800. So saving $700 on labor seems wise.

Have had the 4x4 (DSC) light illuminated on the dash (No other lights). Tried a few suggestions from the forums to clear it but to no avail. Also there are no grinding noises. Went into a dealer in Atlanta today and they said there was a fault with the transfer case actuator motor and possibly the transfer case itself. They wanted over $1500 to change out the actuator and if that didn't fix it, over $3100 for the transfer case. The car is a 2005 and has 61K. It is out of warranty.

Anyone ever DIY replace the transfer case actuator? The part is just over $800. So saving $700 on labor seems wise.

If you are mechanically inclined, I wouldn't think it would be too hard of a job (the actuator). The transfer case could be something I wouldn't do myself.
I would start getting the BMW T.I.S, (kind of a technical service manual for BMW, you can pay per use online) and see if you can tackle it.

You always have the option on getting an estimate from an Indy shop, they are a lot less expensive than the dealership.

I went to my indy shop back in February. They confirmed that the codes were for the transfer case actuator. They tried servicing the transfer case, but the light returned during their test drives. I looked at the BMW TIS and got some good info from another member, but determined it was beyond the scope of my abilities. I believe something in the ABS computer has to be reset after the part install.

Anyway $1100 later, new transfer case actuator and no further problems.

Hi there, hope this is helpful ... since there is so much information spread out around the internet and in forums on this topic I created a post to try to consolidate it (see below). I did the gear only replacement and so far so good, it fixed the problem. I chose to replace the gear all together rather than risk it failing or slipping back into the worn out portion of the gear, my reasoning being if I was going to spend a Sunday working on this I didn't want to ever have to repeat it

I included my photos and the 3 best videos I found on the problem/replacement: